Gazette on drug price reduction within two weeks

The gazette notification on reducing the price of 25 items including expensive cancer drugs will be issued within the next two weeks.

The government will be able to save Rs. two billion only by reducing the price of expensive cancer drugs, Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said.

The minister added that since people are unable to afford expensive cancer drugs, the government buys 95 percent of the drug requirement while the private sector buys only five percent.

He was addressing the Non-Communicable Diseases Council discussion, at the Health Ministry, recently.

The minister said the price of about 10 expensive cancer drugs will be reduced after the gazette issued within two weeks. The government spends about Rs. seven billion annually to import drugs.

The price of the cancer drug Trastuzumab had been brought down from Rs. 280,000 to Rs. 144,000. The price is reduced by Rs. 136,000 which is a significant amount, the minister added.